This is a rhetorical question, right? The answer is of course not. Look, I don't usually agree with Ned, but as a middle class retiree, when considering a move to a warmer climate, I have also considered the tax climate. Big deal. It's not a moral issue at all, it's a weighing all the aspects of a decision on where to live issue.

wack wack wrote:Golf is not a job, it's a competition; financial gains are not earnings, they are winnings and should be taxed at 99%.

Want to pay less taxes? get a JOB.

Ned Flanders wrote:Mickelson, for example, employs hundreds if not thousands of people on his own team, at the media outlets that cover him, at the companies that sponsor him....

Gotta agree with you there Ned. I thought that was a stupid comment about getting a JOB. Is being a musician or an artist a JOB. What constitutes that? Having people get paid for something they do is what this is about. Call it a JOB or not, whatever. Wack, I'd like to know your definition of a JOB.

Stebben84 wrote:Gotta agree with you there Ned. I thought that was a stupid comment about getting a JOB. Is being a musician or an artist a JOB. What constitutes that? Having people get paid for something they do is what this is about. Call it a JOB or not, whatever. Wack, I'd like to know your definition of a JOB.

A job is a position where monetary compensation is earned, not won. A job is worked, every day, with some cost to your personal being. A job is what the majority of Americans face every day, like it or not.

You don't have to like it, but to even entertain the thought that Mickelson "works" like someone doing ANYTHING for $50k/yr is ridiculous. I won't stoop to calling your idea stupid, but it is ridiculous.

Whether or not "musician" or "artist" are jobs depends on your success; if you're talented and lucky they'll start as jobs and end as something very different.

Stebben84 wrote:Gotta agree with you there Ned. I thought that was a stupid comment about getting a JOB. Is being a musician or an artist a JOB. What constitutes that? Having people get paid for something they do is what this is about. Call it a JOB or not, whatever. Wack, I'd like to know your definition of a JOB.

A job is a position where monetary compensation is earned, not won. A job is worked, every day, with some cost to your personal being. A job is what the majority of Americans face every day, like it or not.

You don't have to like it, but to even entertain the thought that Mickelson "works" like someone doing ANYTHING for $50k/yr is ridiculous. I won't stoop to calling your idea stupid, but it is ridiculous.

Whether or not "musician" or "artist" are jobs depends on your success; if you're talented and lucky they'll start as jobs and end as something very different.

Look, I think you're splitting hairs here. Like it or not, a lot of what this nation produces now: movies, entertainment, sports, video games, software isn't made in a factory by guys with sooty faces. That doesn't make the jobs or revenue generated any less legitimate.

I was fortunate enough to sit "courtside" at a recent NBA game and I got to see the players up close on a human scale. Frankly, they looked and sounded like a bunch of big dummies. Do they deserve to make millions of dollars? Somebody thinks so. And they legitimately create a lot of jobs in the arena, when they travel and when they blow all that cash.

Ned Flanders wrote:Look, I think you're splitting hairs here. Like it or not, a lot of what this nation produces now: movies, entertainment, sports, video games, software isn't made in a factory by guys with sooty faces. That doesn't make the jobs or revenue generated any less legitimate.

I was fortunate enough to sit "courtside" at a recent NBA game and I got to see the players up close on a human scale. Frankly, they looked and sounded like a bunch of big dummies. Do they deserve to make millions of dollars? Somebody thinks so. And they legitimately create a lot of jobs in the arena, when they travel and when they blow all that cash.

But it's not splitting hairs, it is a fundamental problem in America right now: the absolute disrespect of the average, work-a-day American in favor of the wealthy.

Phil Mickelson is extremely fortunate to be in the position he is in, and yet he looks for the same sympathy that the poor, abused sooty-faced American workers deserve but never receive.

wack wack wrote:You don't have to like it, but to even entertain the thought that Mickelson "works" like someone doing ANYTHING for $50k/yr is ridiculous.

I've interacted with plenty of people who make 50K and more, who are lazy and incompetent yet managed to work their way up into some middle management position that pays them way more than their worth. Also, in terms of "work", is doing research "work" Is it work like sweating and busting your balls at a factory. Is being a writer "work" Work is about the amount of effort you put into something. I guarantee Mickelson didn't just pick up a club and, blammo, he was a great golfer. No, he worked his ass off becoming a good athlete. Like it or not.

Do athletes and entertainers make too much, maybe, but that's not the point here. It is now about the amount of "work" one of these folks do vs. that of your typical 9-5 job. I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the average worker wouldn't last a day with the work out routine some athletes have or the travel, touring, and hours entertainers put into their work.

I get what your saying about middle class workers being shit on. I just don't think it's fair to blame other people whose "work" may not be your typical 9-5 job.